MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

8/4 Dempster on Lilly

Ryan Dempster did not want to talk Saturday about the trade that sent Ted Lilly to the Dodgers because he not only lost a teammate but a good friend.

“With Teddy, I appreciated him every day for what a teammate he was and what a competitor he was more than anything,” Dempster said Wednesday. “I always thought I was the most competitive person out there and I never thought I’d find anyone more competitive until I met him. We pushed each other as individuals to do the best we can to help our team.

“The 3 1/2 years I played with him were as good a time as I had playing baseball and I learned as much from him as he learned from me — I probably learned more from him,” Dempster said. “It was such an honor, and not just as a baseball player but as a human being, to be around him every day. I know they got somebody pretty special over there. Hopefully, someday down the road, I’ll get the chance to play with him again.

“You don’t find too many guys like that out there. He’s a unique and special human being and a tremendous pitcher and tremendous competitor.”

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